News

The Wills Point City Council met in a rare emergency session Nov. 3, reviewing and addressing issues related to the collapse of one of the city's main sewer lines that services areas “including but not limited to Highway 80 East, O’Neal Street and Hatch Street.”

The collapse happened during the last week of October, with the city using pumps and generators to keep the areas in service without any interruption.

Council members reviewed bids on four projects in the area that would tackle a variety of issues:

-Project 1: designated by all in attendance as one that would need to be done as soon as possible, would repair 200 feet of collapsed line along Highway 80.

-Project 2: would be undertaken after the completion of Project 1, and would address 660 feet of line that runs along Hatch St.

-Project 3: Texas Department of Transportation has requested the city move a manhole and line running underneath O’Neal St. and Highway 80.

2,790 votes cast on proposal

The Wills Point Independent School District will be forced to head back to the drawing board this week, after Election Day brought news that its proposed $42.5 million bond had been voted down by just 26 votes.

According to numbers released by the district late Nov. 8, 1,382 people voted in favor of the bond and 1,408 people voted against. The narrow 49.53 percent to 50.47 percent margin came down to a difference of just 26 votes out of 2,790 total ballots cast.

During early voting, 912 ballots were cast by voters within the boundaries of the WPISD.

The bond measure had been a hot topic of conversation locally since its announcement, with proponents touting the benefits of repairs at the primary, intermediate and high school campuses and the construction of a new junior high that would have been located close to the high school.

The Wills Point High School Class of 1958 celebrated its 58^th class reunion Oct. 9, 2016 with a potluck dinner at the Community Center in Wills Point.  Tables were ]decorated in shades of the school colors, blue and white, and adorned with memorabilia from the ‘50’s by class member Mary Mislivets Harris and Donna Deen Gunter.

Seventeen graduating Class of ’58 members and 11 spouses attended.  Four members of the graduating Class of ’59 also attended, two of whom, Sue Dawson and Carol Jean Cates Welch, are also wives of Class of ’58 members.

Nov 12, 2016, will be a very exciting day in Canton at the Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial.  So please mark your calendars and come help us celebrate during a Memorial Dedication.

The Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial will be having a Memorial Dedication and presentation of the Kneeling Soldier Statue.

The program will begin at 10 a.m. and some chairs will be provided. However, feel free to bring your own to ensure a seat to enjoy the program.

The Wills Point chapter of Rotary International continues to be among the most active organizations in the area, working hard in efforts to better both the local community and world at large.  

Among Rotary International’s primary missions is the eradication of polio worldwide. Information provided by the Rotary Club notes:

“Only two countries - Pakistan and Afghanistan- have never stopped the paralyzing disease polio. If we can root the virus out of there last two strongholds, polio is poised to be only the second human disease ever eradicated, after smallpox. Experts hope to see the last case of polio in these countries in 2016, bringing the opportunity tantalizingly close.

Ables Springs Water Company, in conjunction with the newly named Ables Springs Fire Rescue, held a celebration Oct. 29 to unveil the fire rescue’s new heliport.

The heliport, which has been a three-month project made possible with community donations, fundraisers, and county monies, will work together with Careflight providers.

The project was brainstormed by Buddy Man, Peter, Espoeispo, Don Jenson and Jeff Baska. The artwork that adorns the heliport was done Dale Bartal, who used a combination of the Careflight and Ables Springs logos as inspiration.

Festivities for the unveiling included the collection of new and used winter clothes and coats, and a Home and Health Fair complete with bounce houses, costume contest for kids, as well as food and refreshments for attendees.

The collection of clothes will be distributed to the children’s shelter, Kaufman County, the Genesis Center and Terrell State Hospital.

The Wills Point Tiger Band has been a model of consistency over the years, carrying a streak of six consecutive trips to the state entering the UIL Area Marching Contest Oct. 29.

In order to qualify for a seventh consecutive time, the Tiger Band had to finish in the top four against a talented field of bands that included Sanger, Graham, Terrell, Krum, Midlothian Heritage, Community, Canton, Crandall, Argyle, Melissa, Mabank, Ferris, Iowa Park, Ranchview, Burkburnett, Aubrey, Kaufman, Stephenville, Gainesville, Princeton, Anna and Brownwood.

Entering the contest, Tiger Band Director John Young acknowledged the challenge the Tigers band would be facing. “There will be some amazing bands at Area and six of them have been to the UIL State Marching Contest the past two times.”

fatigue have been blown out of the water throughout Van Zandt County during this most recent election cycle, with eligible voters flocking to the polls to make their voices heard in both local and national affairs.

Among the most discussed local items of interest has been the Wills Point ISD’s proposed $42.5 million bond that would go towards the construction of a new junior high campus, upgrades and repairs of other campuses and the construction of a new roadway to help relieve the traffic burden in residential areas by the primary and intermediate campuses.

As of 10 a.m. Oct. 26, 245 ballots were reportedly cast to determine the fate of the bond. A check on polling numbers as of 11 a.m. Nov. 1 indicates that another 369 votes have been cast since then, bringing bond voting numbers up to 614 votes cast with time left in early voting.

Janette Blair of Wills Point was one of the big winners at this year’s State Fair of Texas, taking home multiple awards with her guinea fowl. Blair’s bird received first place in both the Pearl and Lavender divisions of the competition, as well as the Grand Champion designation in the Pearl division. The fair, which ran from Sept. 30 – Oct. 23 this year, will return to Fair Park next Sept. 29 and run through Oct. 22.

For more stories like this one, subscribe to the Wills Point Chronicle or pick up a copy from one of our vendors. 

The Wills Point Police Department is asking for the public’s help this week as part of an ongoing burglary investigation stemming from an incident near the area of the Wills Point Ford and Wills Point Chevrolet dealerships.

According to the department, an as yet unidentified person or person(s) stole “six chrome wheels with mounted tires and two black wheels” between 9:30 p.m. Oct. 26 and 6:30 a.m. Oct. 27.

Anyone with information on these thefts is asked to contact the Wills Point Police Department at 903-873-2588, or stop by the station located at 120 N. Fifth St.